auditoriums – Dezeenhttps://www.dezeen.com
architecture and design magazineFri, 09 Dec 2016 13:24:12 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1Snøhetta's King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture nears completionhttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/18/king-abdulaziz-center-for-world-culture-nears-completion-snohetta-architecture-news-saudi-arabia/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/18/king-abdulaziz-center-for-world-culture-nears-completion-snohetta-architecture-news-saudi-arabia/#respondFri, 18 Nov 2016 12:57:31 +0000https://admin.dezeen.com/?p=1009294New photographs reveal the pebble-shaped forms of Snøhetta's cultural centre in Saudi Arabia, which is nearing completion ahead of its slated opening date in 2017. Snøhetta won a competition for the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in the city of Dhahran in 2007, and began construction the following year. Designed for the oil company Saudi Aramco, the cultural centre

Designed for the oil company Saudi Aramco, the cultural centre will contain 100,000 square metres of cultural facilities – including an auditorium, cinema, library, exhibition hall, museum and archive.

"The museum and archive facilities connect the vibrant cultural life of the centre to the past and to the very roots of the society from which this centre is conceived," said the studio, which opens its will become a "cultural landmark on a regional, national and global horizon".

The complex comprises a collection of bulbous forms covered in lengths of metal piping. The tubing follows the contours of the building, surrounding windows and doorways, but bands of the facade are left uncovered to reveal the metal structure beneath.

Inside, the 930-seat auditorium within will be used to host opera and classical music concerts as well as speeches. There will also be a smaller auditorium for a cinema, as well as an open-access library stocked with 200,000 books and an exhibition hall to cater for travelling exhibitions, conferences and events.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/18/king-abdulaziz-center-for-world-culture-nears-completion-snohetta-architecture-news-saudi-arabia/feed/0Mirrors reflect arched openings and steps inside wooden auditorium by Pendahttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/16/hongkun-art-auditorium-centre-arches-mirrors-escher-penda-beijing-china/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/16/hongkun-art-auditorium-centre-arches-mirrors-escher-penda-beijing-china/#respondWed, 16 Nov 2016 00:00:51 +0000https://admin.dezeen.com/?p=1007317Penda has set this auditorium for a Beijing art museum inside a wooden box, which features arched openings, and mirrors that reflect endless iterations of its curved cutaways. Beijing- and Vienna-based Penda designed the Hongkun Art Auditorium to host lectures, readings, exhibitions and art sales. It is located on the outskirts of the city, next door to the Hongkun Museum of Fine Art, which

]]>Penda has set this auditorium for a Beijing art museum inside a wooden box, which features arched openings, and mirrors that reflect endless iterations of its curved cutaways.

Beijing- and Vienna-based Penda designed the Hongkun Art Auditorium to host lectures, readings, exhibitions and art sales. It is located on the outskirts of the city, next door to the Hongkun Museum of Fine Art, which was completed by the studio in 2013.

The museum features a series of arches and counter arches, a motif that Penda wanted to continue in the new building. But the studio also wanted visitors to the auditorium feel as if they were inside an art work.

Taking the surreal works of graphic artist MC Escher and painter Salvador Dalí as a starting point, they created a disorienting space where the curving openings are reflected in mirrored walls.

"Inspired by artworks of Dali and Escher, the reflective landscape creates a skewed and distorted reality and connects visitor to art in a direct and interactive way," said the architects. "Rather than looking at an artwork, people can experience the artwork physically to widen their imagination."

"Within the box, visitors immerse into a landscape of wooden arches and circles that are mirrored on each side and on the ceiling," they continued.

Placed in a large wooden box at the centre of the building, the auditorium features a large curved entrance and a series of circular openings on its sides. A staircase spanning its width leads down to the stage.

Mirrors in the shape of upside-down archways line its sides, while panels cover the ceiling. These reflected the structure to create the illusion of tunnels and further staircases.

Wooden light boxes just out from the steps and are designed to be used as extra auditorium seating.

The architects wanted the auditorium to remain visible from all of the spaces within the building, which is covered with a light-toned concrete plaster that offsets the wooden structure.

"The solid centre-cube offers a warm, wooden contrast to its grey concrete-plastered background," they said. "The wooden cube is seen from every space in the building and has round cutouts for visitors to peak into the main lecture space."

On the lower level, two thin exhibition spaces flank the auditorium, while a small alcove underneath the angled roof is designed as a space for socialising.

At entrance level, a pathway on one side leads visitors to an area for trading paintings and art-pieces, and to a small bar. On the other side, concrete stairs provide employees with access to an office space.

A pair of identical doors and two deep set windows puncture the building's otherwise plain white facade.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/16/hongkun-art-auditorium-centre-arches-mirrors-escher-penda-beijing-china/feed/0Dramatic folded canopy shelters riverside terrace of MX_SI Architects' auditorium in Spainhttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/13/municipal-auditorium-lucena-mx_si-architects-folded-canopy-cordoba-spain/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/13/municipal-auditorium-lucena-mx_si-architects-folded-canopy-cordoba-spain/#commentsWed, 12 Oct 2016 23:00:38 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=988369A huge canopy extends from one side of this auditorium in the Spanish province of Córdoba and folds over a riverside terrace, encouraging visitors to loiter around before and after performances. Barcelona-based MX_SI Architects designed the Municipal Auditorium to host performances and exhibitions in the town of Lucena. The architects' aim was to create a series of indoor and outdoor spaces that have flexible

]]>A huge canopy extends from one side of this auditorium in the Spanish province of Córdoba and folds over a riverside terrace, encouraging visitors to loiter around before and after performances.

Barcelona-based MX_SI Architects designed the Municipal Auditorium to host performances and exhibitions in the town of Lucena. The architects' aim was to create a series of indoor and outdoor spaces that have flexible uses, and provide a connection with the town's Lucena River.

The main auditorium is contained within a rectangular structure with a mono-pitched roof.

The angular roof covers a ramped pathway that runs parallel to the river and hosts restaurant seating, exhibition spaces and a large terrace-cum-foyer area at the end.

The structure is covered with undulating strips of aluminium and supported by a red metal framework.

"The walk along the river provides a spatial sequence based on different gradients of open, semi-covered, covered and enclosed spaces," said the architects. "A large space or open forum is created for crowds to congregate at concerts and outdoor events."

"Access to the building is via a ramp with a porch overhang recreating a foyer terrace to enjoy the views of the river and generates a cool, shaded microclimate that encourages not only the auditorium public to stay, but those from the city as well," they added.

A broad door is camouflaged at one end of the auditorium and opens onto a further terrace that can be used to host open-air performances during fair weather.

The construction of the building was started before the 2008 financial crash, resulting in a cut to the project's budget.

The architects were forced to split the completion of the building into phases, and to adapt the design to be be more time and cost efficient.

Phase one saw the completion of the four-storey building, but the finishing of only two of its floors. The house the main elements such as the stage, dressing rooms and storage areas.

The second phase will see the addition of a conference room, press area, gallery, as well as boxes and an amphitheatre.

The building's undulating cladding is made up of a series of aluminium sections – a technique selected to be quick and easy to assemble, and to therefore cut the cost of construction.

Inside, the auditorium has a dark spot-lit ceiling and orange walls, while the exhibition space features glossy white floors and a roof that angles up to a wall of glazing.

The Municipal Auditorium for Lucena is one of many buildings forced to adapt its design in the midst of Spain's financial crisis.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/13/municipal-auditorium-lucena-mx_si-architects-folded-canopy-cordoba-spain/feed/2ETH Zurich students build floating wooden pavilion for Manifesta art biennalehttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/29/pavilion-of-reflections-eth-zurich-students-studio-tom-emerson-wooden-floating-manifesta-art-biennale-switzerland/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/29/pavilion-of-reflections-eth-zurich-students-studio-tom-emerson-wooden-floating-manifesta-art-biennale-switzerland/#respondFri, 29 Jul 2016 07:00:28 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=944929Visitors to this year's Manifesta art biennale can watch films while enjoying a swim in this floating pavilion, built by students to float on Switzerland's Lake Zurich ( + slideshow). Entitled Pavillon of Reflections, the structure was designed and built by 32 students from Studio Tom Emerson, which is the design and research studio in the architecture faculty at Swiss university ETH Zurich.

]]>Visitors to this year's Manifesta art biennale can watch films while enjoying a swim in this floating pavilion, built by students to float on Switzerland's Lake Zurich ( + slideshow).

Entitled Pavillon of Reflections, the structure was designed and built by 32 students from Studio Tom Emerson, which is the design and research studio in the architecture faculty at Swiss university ETH Zurich.

Students were tasked with creating a public space for visitors to Manifesta 11 – a European biennial of contemporary art that has been running since the 1990s.

The timber pavilion, which is accessed from land by a bridge, is made up of five buildings that surround a public swimming bath with a large cinema screen above. Theatre-style steps are located opposite, creating a place to sit while viewing art films.

"The Pavillon of Reflections serves as the biennial's public forum: as a meeting point, as a cinema for screening films produced as part of the biennial, reflected in the public swimming bath, open to the public during the day," said the design team.

Three latticed structures are raised off the ground at different heights by stilts. These include a tower that acts as a beacon.

The other two provide cover to different areas surrounding the open space at the centre.

One features a double-pitched roof, sheltering a bar area below. The other is a mono-pitched volume that offers shade for a raised sunbathing deck, which is accessed by a set of steps and has changing cubicles – including a hair-drying station – underneath.

"A timber island, arranged like a fragment of intimate urban space enclosed by five buildings: a tower, a tribune, a bar, a sun deck with changing cubicles below, a central pool with cinema screen above, and three generous sets of steps that lead into the lake," said the team.

"Together with the tower, the volumetric roofs over the bar are built up from a distinct profile of timber lattice roofs."

Pavillon of Reflections is made almost entirely of timber and all joints were designed to be screwed together.

The Pavillon of Reflections will be open throughout Manifesta 11, which runs from 11 June to 18 September 2016.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/29/pavilion-of-reflections-eth-zurich-students-studio-tom-emerson-wooden-floating-manifesta-art-biennale-switzerland/feed/0MAD's sinuous Harbin Opera House photographed in the snow by Iwan Baanhttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/04/28/harbin-opera-house-mad-iwan-baan-photography-snow/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/04/28/harbin-opera-house-mad-iwan-baan-photography-snow/#commentsThu, 28 Apr 2016 07:00:26 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=891732These new images by Dutch photographer Iwan Baan offer a look at the MAD-designed Harbin Opera House in China after heavy snowfall (+ slideshow). The huge cultural building features a three-petalled plan that encompasses two concert halls and a large public plaza. Externally, it boasts sinuous curves created from smooth white aluminium panels and glass, while its interior features

The huge cultural building features a three-petalled plan that encompasses two concert halls and a large public plaza.

Externally, it boasts sinuous curves created from smooth white aluminium panels and glass, while its interior features a towering block of sculpted Manchurian ash wood and undulating concrete surfaces.

Harbin Opera House is the first and largest building that Beijing-based MAD has designed as part of Harbin Cultural Island, a major new arts complex among the wetlands of the Songhua River.

The building was completed at the end of 2015, but Iwan Baan visited some weeks later to capture it during the peak of the winter season, when the region experiences a severe drop in temperature and heavy snowfall.

"We envision Harbin Opera House as a cultural centre of the future – a tremendous performance venue, as well as a dramatic public space that embodies the integration of human, art and the city identity, while synergistically blending with the surrounding nature," said studio founder Ma Yansong.

Iwan Baan started out as a documentary photographer but moved into architecture after a chance meeting with architect Rem Koolhaas, and has since become the most sought-after name in architectural photography.